I like projects, whether writing projects or other projects, artistic or practical. I’ve built fences and chicken coops, and fashioned spirit sticks and prayer feathers. I collect rocks from the woods and from the beach. I write out entire table of contents’ for poetry chapbooks before I start writing the poems.

When my wife needs something fixed in the house, I get out my tool box and approach the repair with gusto – most of the time – or get out the phone book if it’s something I’m totally unfamiliar with, or have learned “isn’t my thing.” That doesn’t stop me from researching the chore so that I know something about it. I find it makes it easier for me to ask in-depth questions if I know something about the project before the expert shows up.

All this adds to my writing. Every little piece of information, every experience, every new person – the way they walk, talk, and laugh – provides me with more information to use in some short story, poem, or novel.

I love working with teachers who love to teach, experts who love their job, and pretty much anyone who has a passion for something I’m not familiar with. Even if I am familiar, I learn something new every time I engage with another person.

It may seem that I’ve stepped away from my topic of hobbies, but I really haven’t. I make it my hobby to interact with others about what they enjoy, what they believe, and what they have passion for. It all increases my ability to do my own work. So, you might say that my hobby is to better understand everything and everyone so that I can write about it in my own work. And the more hands-on experience I get, the better.

Terry Persun writes in many genres, including historical fiction, mainstream, literary, and science fiction/fantasy. He is a Pushcart nominee. His latest poetry collection is “And Now This”. His novels, “Wolf’s Rite” and “Cathedral of Dreams” were ForeWord magazine Book of the Year finalists in the science fiction category, and his novel “Sweet Song” won a Silver IPPY Award. His latest science fiction space opera is, “Hear No Evil”, his latest fantasy is “Doublesight”, his latest mainstream/literary novel is “Ten Months in Wonderland”.